Today’s quick review: Mazes and Monsters. Robbie Wheeling (Tom Hanks), a recent transfer to Grant University, makes friends with Kate (Wendy Crewson), Jay Jay (Chris Makepeace), and Daniel (David Wallace) when he joins them for a campaign of Mazes and Monsters, a tabletop role-playing game. As Robbie becomes more involved in the game, he begins to lose his grip on reality, eventually losing himself in the persona of his character from the game.
Mazes and Monsters is a psychological drama about a group of friends who take a game of fantasy too far. Mazes and Monsters explores the darker side of role-playing games, touching on their addictive nature, their moral character, and their effect on those who are already under psychological strain. The movie tries to be a chilling cautionary tale, but its flimsy plot, thin characters, and misplaced drama make it a dull and ineffectual watch.
Mazes and Monsters sticks to the absolute basics when it comes to storytelling and suffers for it. The characters each have a couple of defining traits that are barely important to the plot. The plot contains the bare minimum it needs to be a complete story, and its one real twist is disappointing. Robbie’s descent into madness is poorly motivated and poorly conveyed, coming across as forced drama rather than the psychological trap it is meant to be.
Mazes and Monsters squanders what could have been a darkly compelling premise. For a movie about fantasy and the hidden corners of the mind, it shows very little imagination, and its portrayal of role-playing games skirts the line between demonization and romanticization. Mazes and Monsters is a curiosity as one of the few movies about its subject matter, but its low qualitly means that even viewers who are curious would be better off skipping.
For a lighter fantasy adventure about confronting fear through fiction, try Pagemaster. For a family adventure about a game come to life, try Jumanji. For a psychological drama with a much darker tone, try Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream, or The Machinist.
4.1 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 4.5 for a plain story told without much tact.